


Temple of the Forbidden Eye

by ViciousRhythm



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Disneyland, Gen, Inspired by Indiana Jones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-05
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-13 03:58:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7961584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViciousRhythm/pseuds/ViciousRhythm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben is tall enough for the Indiana Jones ride, but he may not quite be old enough to handle it yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Temple of the Forbidden Eye

If Leia were a tougher mom, she would put her foot down and tell Ben he absolutely is not allowed to go on the Indiana Jones ride, but it’s been a long day, and Ben’s been good for most of it. And Leia is honestly suffering from a bit of a headache in the heat, so she’s not particularly in the mood to argue with her six year old over a Disneyland attraction. Besides, he technically is tall enough to go on the ride and Han will take him, so she lets it go.

Ben is an impatient mess through the line, bouncing on his toes every time he finds himself standing in place for more than a full minute, but staunchly insisting he is fine with waiting. Twenty five minutes lasts an eternity for a six year old, so it speaks to how much Ben really wants to go on this ride that he doesn’t complain once about the line taking so long. It’s much easier once he and his dad are inside the temple and there are things to look at.

It’s Ben’s first time in Disneyland, let alone this ride, so the carvings in the fake temple walls and all the little gags to entertain kids in line work like a charm on him.

“Dad, look!” Ben latches onto Han’s fingertips, dragging him toward the floor and nearly making Han trip and sprawl. “You can’t step on the diamonds or you’ll set off the traps.”

“We’d better be careful then, huh?” Han says, indulgently going along with it. Soon enough the kid will be grown and realize there are no traps in Disneyland, but for now, he and Ben tiptoe around the diamond-shaped tiles in the floor. Han shows him how to push the moveable bamboo to make the ceiling move a bit further on, and Ben’s face nearly splits with a delighted smile. The other adults around, and even a couple of the disillusioned teenagers, grin at the sound of Ben’s laughter echoing down the narrow corridor, and Han scoops him into his arms before they can stall the line with Ben still pushing the trick bamboo.

“Put me down,” Ben protests immediately, squirming in Han’s grip. “I can _walk_ , let me _go_.”

He does as soon as they’re a few feet down the line, and then Han has to endure Ben pouting at him for the remainder of the time. Ben won’t even forgive him such an undignified picking-up when Han shows him the rope that you can tug on to hear Indiana Jones’ annoyed shouting echoing up from the well. Ben yanks on it viciously, but walks off when the line moves before he can even hear Indy’s yelling. Han sighs and follows his moody son toward the end of the line, walking past the cheesy video warning everyone not to look into the eyes of the temple’s idol.

They test Ben’s height at the front of the line, even though he’s tall for all of six years old, well over the required 46 inches already, and the cast member slots them into the second row. Ben sits very nicely, back straight and eyes forward, looking older than his six years, and Han winces. He wasn’t expecting the pang that comes from thinking his boy is going to grow up much faster than Han is ready for. Only a few years ago, he hadn’t been too big to carry around – he’d asked for piggyback rides all the time.

The kid still has a brave face on as the ride starts, bumping along the track unevenly as the voice over reminds them to keep their limbs in the vehicle and remember not to look into the eyes of the idol. Ben is one of the handful of people who stubbornly look down and away from the idol, hands on the bar in front of him. When the idol’s voice rumbles accusingly down at them, Ben looks up in righteous protest, but he gets caught up in the actual ride soon enough.

He does fine up until they go careening down the bridge and into the chamber with the giant snake.

“Snakes,” Indiana Jones’ voice comes through the speakers, vaguely anxious. “It had to be snakes. You’re on your own.”

The car takes a sharp, jerky turn and as the huge snake comes closer to them, within a few feet on Ben’s side of the car, Ben’s hand blindly shoots out to find Han’s. He keeps a grip on his dad’s hand for the rest of the ride, ducking with his free hand over his head when bursts of air shoot at them to simulate poison darts from the glow in the dark skeletons on the walls. Ben shrieks, halfway between delight and terror, as the giant boulder comes barreling toward them, fitting himself into Han’s side when his dad instinctively leans toward him with the downward motion of the car.

For a moment, Han thinks they’re both going to catch hell from Leia. She’d been hesitant to let Ben on the ride, height requirement met or not, and Ben sits quiet and still for a second too long when it’s over. Hopefully the kid isn’t going to have nightmares now or something awful.

“That was awesome!” Ben shouts over the chatter of the other guests as they pull in behind another car. “Can we go again? Can we do the riches temple this time? I didn’t know Indiana Jones looks like you!”

“Please tell your mom that,” Han says, relieved as hell he doesn’t have to explain to Leia how he took Ben on a Disneyland ride that traumatized him. Apparently he was just psyched beyond words for a second there.

Ben won’t stop running once his seatbelt is released, and it’s all Han can do to keep up with him as Ben races back to where Leia is still sitting, nursing a Dr Pepper in front of the Bengal Barbecue.

“Mom!” Ben goes charging toward Leia, and there’s pretty much no way Ben can manage to get lost in the ten feet between them, so Han doesn’t bother jogging the last little bit. His son has quieted once he reached Leia, so Han can’t hear his babbling, but Han can see the excited look on his face from a distance.

“ – and then the rock stopped for a second, and then it came _right at us_ ,” Ben is saying when Han gets within hearing distance. “And we made it _right_ in time, and the whole wall was all busted when we got out. And Indiana Jones looks _just_ like Dad, Mom! Can we get a hat so they can be twins?”

“I think we’ve got enough twins with just me and Uncle Luke, huh?” Leia says, but Han can see her mild relief that Ben isn’t freaked out by the ride. Han resolves not to tell her Ben needed to hold his hand. Ben would want to keep it on the down low anyway.


End file.
